Button and the method of making the same



March 11, 1941. F. R. WHITE 2,234,510

BUTTON AND THE METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Nov. 5, 1937 A ikanklin1?.W/zii'e,

Patented Mar. 11, 1941 PATENT OFFICE w BUTTON AND THE NIETHOD OF MAKINGTHE SAME Franklin R. White, Waterbury, Conn, assignor to The PatentButton Company, Waterbury, Conn, a corporation of ConnecticutApplication November 3, 1937, Serial No. 172,645

1 Claim.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in buttons and themethod of making'the same, and has for an object to provide a button, onthe cap of which will be any desired insignia, trade-mark, or brand, thebutton being so constructed that when it is attached to overalls or workclothes on the attaching machine, the insignia will be properlypositioned (rightside up) with respect tothe garment.

As is well known to those skilled in the art,

overalls, work clothes, jumpers, etc. are all pronot matter if theinsignia is upside down or at an angle to the vertical, but on theshoulder straps, upper pockets, 'etc., it is especially desirable tohave the button in its proper readable position, that is, so that-thebrand or insignia or trade-mark appears in a horizontal position.

Several methods have been tried to properly orient the button at theattaching stationof the button-attaching machine, but, as far as I amaware, these different methods entail considerable time and call formanually positioning the button either when the same is made or when itis placed Within the hopper or fed through the machine.

As is also well known, button-attaching machines comprise two mainchutes, one of which holds the tacks and the other of which holds thebutton heads. These tacks and button heads are fed to the attachingstation and the movements synchronized so that when they are in properrelative position, the button head is forced Then, when the cap iscrimped on the shell, that is, during the crimping operation, the meanson the cap will so position the cap in the capping machine that duringthis attaching operation, the hub will be flattened on its one side alsoin longitudinal alignment with the means on the shell and with thetrade-mark or insignia. Or the under portion of the button during thecapping will be scored at right angles to the insignia, so that,thereafter, when the button heads are thrown into the hopper of thebutton-attaching machine, they will not pass down the chute until theyare properly oriented, and when attached on the attaching station of thebuttonattaching machine, they will be in the proper position withrespect to the garment to which they are to be attached. 10 Stillanother object of the invention is to pro vide a button wherein the caphas its insignia stamped thereon and. the periphery atone point of thecap (that is, the periphery of the flange) will be bent slightlyoutwardly in alignment with the insignia on the cap. Then, when this capis crimped on the button shell, the crimping operation will not onlyagain flatten the periphery of the flange, but the hub will be knurledor flattened or the bottom of the cap will be scored, so that the buttonafterwards may be fed in proper alignment to the attaching station.

Still another object ofthe invention is to provide a button wherein theperiphery of the flange of the cap will be bent outwardly at the sametime that the insignia is stamped in the cap and wherein this bentperiphery will be again forced back to its true position and crimped tothe button shell, so that the button is in no way disfigured. At thesame time that this operation takes place, either the under surface ofthe button head will be scored or the hub will be spotted or flattened,thereby making it impossible for the button to be fed down the buttonchute in any way but its properly oriented manner.

'Sill another object of the invention is to provide a button wherein anydesired insignia may be formed on the cap and wherein the cap istemporarily provided with an outwardly extending flared portion, so thatit will be properly fed to the capping station, and when capped totheshell, the under surface of the button will be indented or the hub willbe flattened, so that thereafter to attach the button in its properposition, it is only necessary to place the buttons in the hopper andfeed them in the regular way in a specially formed chute.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnew and novel features and-combination of parts, as will be here-.

inafter more fully explained and pointed out in the claim.

Referring now to the drawing,

Fig. 1 is an enlarged top plan view of my improved button cap beforebeing crimped to the button shell;

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of the same;

. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the cap on the shell but before thecap is crimped about the shell;

Fig. 4 is a side view after the cap has been crimped about the shell,the shell during the operation having been flattened out at apredetermined spot corresponding to the flat on the Fig. 5 is a similarview-to Fig. 4, but taken at right angles to Fig. 4 to show the face ofthe flat on the hub; r

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the feed chute of theattaching machine to show the rib on the side of the chute channel toinsure the button feed with the insignia in proper position;

Fig. 7 is a top plan view of a slightly modified form of cap having apoint bent out rather than the flat, as shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view of the cap and shell before crimping andscoring the shell;

Fig. 9 is a similar view after the cap is crimped and the shell has beenscored;

Fig. 10 is a cross sectional view of a feed chute, similar to that shownin Fig. 6, to show the modified form of rib to insure the button feedwith the insignia in its proper position;

Fig..11 is a fragmentary view showing the button attached to the clothand showing the insignia appearing in the proper horizontal position.

Referringnow for the moment to Fig. 1, there is shown a metal cap a, inwhich the insignia 2 is pressed. It is understood that any desiredinsignia may be used on these button caps, generally designating thename or brand of the manufacturer of the clothes to which the button isto be attached. The cap a is made by suitable dies (not shown) and hasthe top portion 3 and the peripheral rim 4, this rim being bent out, asat 5, to form a flat, which is oriented or in horizontal alignment withthe insignia 2 on the button cap.

By pressing this peripheral flange out of round, as shown, the cap mayafterwards he mechanically adjusted in a dial plate (not shown) whichhas a similar peripheral outline, so that the tooling, which crimps thebutton cap to the shell, will be in alignment with the tooling that willform a flat on the hub of the shell beneath the said flat 5. l i

In Fig. 3, there is shown the cap a and also the usual metal buttonshell,6 with its outwardly extending flange I and its hub 8. The hub upto this time has not been flattened or marked, so it does not have to bein any special rotative position with respect to the cap 2.

After the cap is fitted over the shell in the capping machine, theperipheral rim 4 will be crimped about the peripheral flange I of theshell 6 and the flat 5 will also be turned in and crimped so that aninspection of the button would not reveal that the flat 5 had everexisted.

As the cap has positioned itself in the capping machine due to the fiat5, it was in a position also to have a tool (not shown) form the flat .9(see Fig. 5) on the side of the hub, which flat is in horizontalalignment with the heretoforementioned fiat 5 and, of course, inhorizontal alignment with the insignia on the face of the button. Inother words, by forming the flat on the cap, which flat is in horizontalalignment with the insignia, the cap will properly position itself inthe button-capping machine, and when the button is capped and properlypositioned, the flat will be formed on the hub, which is also inalignment with the insignia on the button cap.

In a slightly modified form as shown in Figs. 7 to 10, inclusive, thereis present the same cap .a', but rather than forming a relatively longflat 5, I form what I term a point ID, that is, I

force out the flange II that extends beneath the cap to form the pointl0, as may be seen inFigs. -7 and 8. This point, in these views, is tothe right of the cap and is in horizontal alignment with the insignia onthe button cap. The button will, therefore, properly position itself inthe dial of the \capping machine, and when the cap is fastened over theshell l2, the point 10 will be crimped over the shell (Fig. 9) as in theformer instance, so that it will no longer appear. At the same time, agroove or indentation I3 is formed on the under surface of the shell, asmay be seen in Fig. 9. In this instance, the groove or indentation is atright angles to the insignia appearing on the shell.

Thus, in both the preferred and modified forms, it is apparent that whenthe cap is crimped to the shell, means are also formed on the shell, sothat later, when the button is fed down the chute of thebutton-attaching machine, the button will always be in its properlyoriented position, that is, with the insignia positioned properly withrespect to the cloth to which it is to be attached.

In Fig. 6, I have shown the button a as passing along the chute M, whichis cutout, as at I5, and undercut, as at It. Also, there will be seen asmall rib H, which permits the button only to pass along the chute whenthe rib ll contacts the flat 9 of the hub 8 and thus in its properposition to be attached.

The button at this time is in an inverted position, that is, face down,but it will be understood that in a button-attaching machine, the

- chute twists through 180 to bring the button in an upright posiitonready to be attached.

In Fig. ,10, Ihave shown a fragmentary portion of a chute 18, which hasthe channel l9, along which the button a is fed and, in this instance, asmall rib 20 will permit the button to continue when the indentation I3is in alignment with the aforementioned rib 20.

Thus, in either instance, it will be seen that the button will be fed tothe attaching station (not shown), so that the insignia will always beproperly oriented or, in other words, in the position as shown in Fig.11. In this case, I haveshown the button a as attached to a portion of awork garment 2| with the eyelet of the buckle 22 thereunder.

In the patent granted to me on December 2,

1913, Number 1,079,967, in re Button feeding mechanism for bar buttonattaching machines, there was shown a bar button with flats on theopposite sides of the hub, so that when the staple was forced throughthecentnal opening in the button, it would not strike the bar, that is,the button could be in one of two positions. In the present instance,.however, I have shown chutes wherein the button can only be in oneposition,

as otherwise the insignia-might appear in an upside-down position ratherthan in its true desired position.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that by forming this flat or pointon the button shells at the time the caps are formed and the insigniapressed therein, they will later cooperate With means provided forcapping the shell, pressing the flat or point back into position, and,at the same time, forming orienting means either on,

the under surface of the shell or on the hub. Then, the buttons may beplaced in the buttonatt'a-ching machine and always feed through themachine in a definite position with the designs properly positioned whenthey reach the attaching station.

It will also be seen that by forming this fl-at on the hub, or theindentation on the button of the shell during the capping arrangement,the shell in no way has to :be first marked and oriented or positionedrelative to the oriented position of the cap.

After the button is attached, the flat or point of the cap will nevershow While the only mark The method of making and assembling a button sothat it will predeterminedly position itself with respect to itsinsignia'in a button-attaching machine, which consists in stamping out acap of relatively thin metal having a dependent flange and pressinginsignia in the cap and at the same time pressing a part of thedependent flange of the cap outwardly from its true periphery to form anindicator, the said bent-out portion being located in certainpredetermined position with regard to the insignia on the cap, orientingthe cap by means of the pressed-out portion of the metal flange tolocate and determine the rotative position of the cap during a crimpingoperation, supporting the cap in located position, then crimping the capover a receptive button shell, bending back that part of the flange thathas formerly been bent outwardly; and while the c ap is still supportedin located position forming at a predetermined locality a flatten-edsurface on the hub of the shell, so that the flattened surface will bein a predetermined position with respect to the insignia on the cap asdetermined by the formerly outwardly bent portion, whereby the flat mayretain the button with its insignia in proper rotative position when fedthrough a buttonattaching machine.

FRANKLIN R. WHITE.

